Anthony Gordon tells pundits Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer to ‘do better’

By Robert O'Connor, Press Association

Anthony Gordon said pundits Wayne Rooney and Alan Shearer need to “get better at what they’re doing” after they questioned why he only played in the second half of Newcastle’s midweek draw with Barcelona.

The forward was a second-half substitute during Tuesday’s 1-1 Champions League draw at St. James’s Park after spending a number of days unable to train due to illness.

Rooney, Shearer and fellow pundit Roy Keane were part of a team covering the game live pitchside and all three made comments about Gordon not being involved from the start.

Speaking on Match of the Day after scoring the goal that ended Newcastle’s 14-year wait for a victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, the 25-year-old said: “Usually I don’t like to clear stuff up because I don’t care too much, but this one does need clearing up because it was just nonsense.

“When I got to the stadium (on Tuesday) the manager told me I wasn’t playing, which I didn’t like very much, but that’s his decision and the team played well.

“Saying I didn’t want to play in the biggest game of my career is absolute nonsense.

“I think Rooney said I went past and didn’t shake their hands and went into the changing room. I didn’t. I got changed by myself in a changing room the size of this. It was just me and a sink. Complete nonsense. I think they need to do better at what they are doing.”

Speaking on Tuesday, Shearer said  it would take “something extraordinary to keep myself out of this game” whilst Keane wondered why Gordon was able to come on as a substitute but unable to start.

Gordon’s goal in the first half in west London, tapped in from Joe Willock’s unselfish pass after Newcastle had beaten Chelsea’s disorganised press, sent the Blues to their fourth home Premier League defeat of the season.

“It was a tactical issue,” said head coach Liam Rosenior of the goal. “We press in a different way to most teams. It’s a new way of pressing. We don’t step on the press and then we don’t cover in the position that we should have done. Mistakes happen.

“They had nothing in the game and we gave them a goal. The press was the reason they had to kick long balls back to us.

“It feels like at the moment, every mistake we’re making is ending up in the back of our net.”